People Don't Always Suck.

Well part of my town kinda isn't there any more. Just reporting that all is well here no need to worry. The reports and confusion abound as with any situation like this.

Feel free to read all about it here:

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/03/05/news/state/20-bozeman.txt

So I've come to the hard realization that my career in film probably wont happen. I'm not going to go into detail on this. I've thought about it long and hard with my wonderful wife and it just isn't going to work. So now I'm in a very frustrating limbo feeling like I've wasted a lot of time and not knowing what to do next.

I'm in a position where I have to finish my degree as planned as a transfer or change of major would set me back at least 1 year. I'm getting old and I need to get into the work force. As it is I'll be 27 when I graduate. That may not sound old to most, but I already feel older than everyone one around me (mostly because I am).

I chose to go into film because I like telling stories. I also believe I'm good with people and organizing things. I want a job where I can do those things. I can't stand something where I do the same thing day in day out. No cubicles for me.

I've thought about going into gaming, it seems to be the next best option. The work is steady there is creative control and influence to story and I like games. Problem is it's a very hard industry to break into especially in the creative area. I'm working on developing my creative skills. I've given up on drawing and am now focusing more on writing and descriptive imagery so others can draw what I see. I like collaborating, I wish to do more of that in the future.

I'm just in a weird place right now. I feel guilty for dragging Katie to Montana without really thinking through what I wanted to do or where we were going to end up. I feel alienated and alone. I'd go into that more if it wasn't a pity party.

I've thought about combining my film degree with a programming minor but alas my university doesn't offer courses that would be of any use to me, they don't even teach C++.

So I thought about getting a minor in business management and perhaps learning programming on the side. This seems like a semi logical course, but I really don't know if those skills will be of any use to me in the real world.

My next step is to start contacting game developers and find out what they're looking for and start building that. Ideally I'd like to work for a company in the Seattle area so I'd be closer to mine and Katie's families. There are a few options in the area, the best of course would be Valve (I loves Valve). I've heard far too many horror stories from a certain friend of mine about Bungie and MS. I think there's one other publisher in the area but the name escapes me.

So here I sit drifting at sea trying to figure out which way to go in the hopes of finding shore. I'm happy I have a boat, oars, and a copilot.

Well it's tomorrow.

I'm always humbled by the amount of love bestowed upon me by friends and family during this odd season. It's nice to have a yearly smack up side da head and be reminded of how well I really have it. After this last semester of school it's been entirely appreciated.

love to you all

School needs to be over with.

I and a team of at least 12 others, installed a movie theater projector into a 700 seat Theater building that hasn't had one in at least 70 years. The first film I projected on it and the second ever "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" The night before we brought in an ace to screen "Secret Life of Bees". Both of these are premiere unreleased films. This is the result of 4 weeks of frustration and impossible feats. I can't describe the feeling I had when I saw that first image come up on the screen. I'll never forget it.

I'm older.

My once and future broken computer is currently working again. Mostly.

Maybe I'll get to use it this week. That'd be nice.

I've decided I'm not going to work in the computer field anymore. I quit my job and I'm determined to start my career in film and television. Maybe that was stupid I don't care. I jumped, it's more than most people do their whole lives.

Good bye users, good bye tech support hold, good bye microsoft, good bye senseless broken shit. I won't miss any of you.

I love my wife more that anything. She is everything.

Cheers to jumping, and in some cases being pushed.

I haven't really posted anything meaty on here for I dunno ever so I thought I'd do a big long dump of everything that's happened to me since about the beginning of June. I will not edit this cause it's 2am and it will take to long when I'm done. I'm sure I'll come back to it within the next couple of days and fix everything, but for now just enjoy the mass content.


Katie turned 23! This was all but ignored as her bridal shower and graduation were both in the same week. That was alot of presents. This was just about the begging of what we both call the "time of the forgotten" or when everything go so monkey fucked crazy that we don't remember much of anything. Maybe I should back up a little bit. A few months prior I decided that I wanted to throw away my life long (5 years) profession of working on computers and take up working on movies and TV shows. After coming to this decision Katie and I began to scout where I would go to school and when we'd move there. After some careful selection and examination of the available options I chose Bozeman, MT and Montana State University. Why I came to this conclusion is yet another very long pargraph that I'll save for later unless someone specifically asks for it. So after WE chose that school (mostly me but I wasn't going to force my, at the time, soon to be wife to move somewhere she didn't like.) we began to investigate the school more deeply and what it would take to get moved there.

At this point we were engaged but hadn't set a date to get married. In the beginning we had set out dates over a year away, but honestly due to some family pressure we moved it up soon, and after more family pressure we moved it up even sooner. First it was December 1st our anniversary then it was July 21st, the only day available in July. Once again I'm going to skip some of these details, and infact where ever I skip details I do it because it's either an uncomfortable subject or I think it would be boring to read. In either situation if asked I will answer. So back to the whole marriage thing.

I'm realizing now that I will be jumping around alot becuase not all of this is in good order in my head. I'll try to add a time frame as often as possible so as not to get too confused.

Back to our program already in progress. In March Katie and I decided to take a trip to Bozeman to kinda scope out the town and to do some paperwork at school. We poked around and found some things both of us really liked. At this time we both thought we were getting married on Dec 1st. We stayed at a youth hostel in town, and explored from there. Bozeman has by far one of the COOLEST CO-OPs ever. It's probably the nicest grocery store in Bozeman and there are at least 7 that I can think of. We both thought it was a really cool place. The School campus is huge and caters to MANY different disciplines. We toured my program and the different labs and such, all of them very cool and VERY MAC. (Scary for a VERY PC guy, scary as in eek I don't know what to do with the pretty white box.) People on campus were all very nice along with the people that I met in the program. I was pumped after seeing all of that stuff, and really ready to start school in the fall.

Oh look another interjection! So I should note because I get the feeling a lot of people thought this was wierd. Last summer, Katie and I essentially broke up and I went on about a month and a half 2 month road trip across the country. This is all for another post, but needless to say it was life changing and eye opening. I didn't sleep with any other girls let alone kiss one, and Katie and I immediately got back together upon my return to both of our bountiful joy's. I just wanted to clear that up because I/we got a bunch of wierd looks after that whole thing. Especially with the annocement of engagement only a few months later.

Back to the trail. So as I mentioned before we stayed a youth hostel. This was for the most part a pretty uneventful experience, except for the end. When Katie and I were packing up we were re making the bed and some how the TOP blanket had been flipped over and on it was a GIANT cum stain. Not ours, we didn't do it in the hostel bed. Needless to say Katie flipped over this. I was kinda "ew" about it but payed it little mind, I mean there was another blanket and a sheet seperating us. My guess is some couple got home late drunk hopped on the top of the bed and went at it. Saw the mess they made and flipped the blanket. End of stay housekeeper person changes the sheets but doesn't notice the stain. (the sheets were decidedly fresh upon arival) Atleast this is the story I tell myself, I really want to give them the benifit of the doubt. Otherwise really ew.

So that pretty much wraps up the first trip over. We drove back and started planning for the move and the wedding on Dec 1st IN Montana. OH I should also mention we checked out some wedding stuff for Bozeman while we were there in preperation for the event.

I was all for the December Bozeman wedding. It was a good date for us, and I thought it had an awesome built in deterent. Only people that REALLY wanted to see us get married would come. I thought that would make for a very tight and special ceremony. I'm am not in ANY WAY saying the wedding we had wasn't the best fucking thing ever, just at the time this is what I was thinking. So yeah I thought it would have been cool. Plus Katie always dreamed about having a snow wedding, and I really wanted to make that happen for her. Alas this was not to be.

Don't get me wrong here I LOVE Katie's parents, they are awesome people that are fun to hang out with and just generally cool. Wierd that I'm saying good things about my inlaws I know, but they really are awesome. With that said, they can frustrate me at times. I'm not going to place any blame here but after 1 conversation with her parent Katie basically told me that we're moving the wedding date up and it was going to be in the area of olympia or vancouver. This was like at the end of march beginning of april. We had been planning our wedding in bozeman for 3 months to take place in bozeman at the end of the year. Now it was here in 3 1/2 months. This added a little stress to both of us, more so to Katie as she graciously was tackling the majority of the wedding planning. Partialy because I would fuck it all up and I was also working full time, and she was basically a part time student working 1 day a week so she had more free time. That aside the whole moving it up thing was frustrating for me, I felt like the carpet was being pulled out from under me, but there was nothing I could do about it. Reasons cited for the move of the location and date were; no one wants to go to Montana in the winter (one of the things I saw as a benifit), the majority of the family lives in this area, (paraphrasing here) before you take our daughter away from us we want to see a ring on both your fingers. The last one is the one I probably understood the most. I also want to note that this is how I remember everything, and may not be 100% factual according to Katie. If she makes me change something I'll keep both versions and note which is which. So thats kinda the story of how the wedding got moved and why.

Now at this time we knew that in essentially 3 months Katie was going to turn 23, Graduate, we'd get married then move to Montana in the space of 1 month. That was a big target to look at, obviously we made it but at the time it was daunting.

While all of this was going on in my personal life my work was suffering HORRIBLY, I should have been fired like 12 times for being a total slacker. I was burnt out and just didn't want to work with computers anymore, I was so anxious to start my new life I couldn't concentrate on my current one. I made it through work ok, I don't know how and I'm kinda sad and glad that I did. One of the cool things I got to do while I was still there was build a REC room for all of the IT staff. That was a lot of fun, I got to spend work money on foosball, air hockey, ping pong, tv, dvd, surround sound. It was great! I hope people are still using that stuff. I tried to promote the crap out of it, but not many people seemed interested. Oh well I guess, I tried. I really had some great bosses while i was working there, I feel bad that i screwed off so much. I really liked them I just couldn't do the work anymore, it wasn't fulfilling hence the whole career change thing.

I can't wait till I don't have to work on computers anymore. I'm so done with them.

OK moving on. Not a whole lot happened until basically June. I bought some guns, restored them and shot them. Shot some other guns with my good buddy Eric(needs hyperlink to mercuryeric.livejournal.com) that got recorded for a game, and maybe just maybe they may get used more on that if I ever hear anything, had fun with friends, went to Tom's AWESOME bachelor party kudos to my buddy Carl for that one and the rest was just blah blah blah.

OK June. This is when the shit storm started. Because of how the scheduling worked out Katie's bridal shower worked out to be the day after she graduated which was 2 days after she turned 23. She was slightly frustrated by all this, but we both sucked it up and marched on. I don't know how her shower was, but I hear she had fun. The graduation was awesome, it was really cool to see her get the degree she had been working on for our whole relationship. We were all very proud of her and happy to see it happen. Her birthday was sadly all but ignored, I can't even really remember what we did, I think I took her to dinner and got her a nice gift. I just don't remember what. Like I said the majority of this time period is a blob. After all this we started crunch time for wedding planning stuff and packing for a move 3 days after the wedding.

Somewhere in here I had my FIRST bachelors party. I say first because i ended up having 2. My brother hap hazardly arranged it basically the day before, and it kinda turned into a suck fest. We had fun at a go cart place in oregon, then we went back to my Brotah's house and brautwurst and beer for dinner, after that the party fell apart. I'm not going into details but it achieved suckfest. I was really hurt and sad by the end of it, and I DROVE home from vancouver to olympia the same night. I emphisise drove becuase I wasn't hammered or anywhere close to it.

So as time drew closer to the wedding and all that jazz I did my best to hang out with all of my friends as much as possible. Somewhere in all of this I convinced all my friends to have a LAN party for "old times" sake as we used to do it a bunch when we were in high school. THAT was a blast. It happened before my bachelor party at some point, just not sure where.

So moving on, my brother and I haven't been on very good terms with each other since we were about 5 and 7. Over the last year or so I've tried to start rebuilding this relationship, but its hard and my brother is very difficult to read. I asked him to be my best man as a part of this effort to rebuild our connection, but it scared me alot to ask him to do this. My fears were compounded when he put together my bachelor party last minute. I wanted very much for him to succeed, yet I didn't want to set us both up for failure. This was a very hard thing for me to handle and I still don't know if any of it had any effect. He still seems just as distant and unconnected as before, but my mom tells be that he talks about me alot and says he actually wants to move out here to montana to be closer to me. Its all very puzzling to me. I want us to be brothers again, I just don't know what to do.

On a semi unrelated note, I decided to throw myself another bachelor party. I talked with my Brotah Sean and all my friends and got it hooked up for the night of the rehersal before my wedding. directly proceeding the rehersal dinner, all of my friends
Sean
Carl
Tom
(Brother) Jason
Eric
Lucy + (at the time) GF Nirvana
Rick (joined us later)
Claude (mom's bf) On a side note they've been together longer than Katie and I by 6 months
and Gary? I can't remember his name more a friend of sean and carl and tom then me but a very cool dude.

So we shooting lots of guns and lots of fun.

then we to Sean's house and had (guess what!) Brauts and beer (I like them) Eric was a real trooper, the guy is the husband of my old boss the beautiful stylish and loud Gabi from the great and fantabulous Olympic Cards & Comics. Anyways he is a really cool guy who I don't know how or why decided to call me his friend. Anyways during this whole shebang he was always right there wanting to know how he could help out not just at my bachelor party, but before and even after the wedding. I really can't say enough how cool he is. Everyone else I've know for YEARS, but this dude has known me for maybe 1 1/2 - 2 years and has hung out with me less times than I have fingers, but he was all about making sure my wedding experience was awesome. If you read this thank you Eric.

As for everyone else they were all great party animals and rockstars the bunch. I'm not trying to really talk up and over play what eric did I just thought it was alot for someone who doesn't know me as well as some of my other friends.

All you guys were fucking great. Sean you're my Brotah nough said. I give you 1Million internets.

Carl and Tom two guys from the grade above me in high school that I introduced to LAN parties and have loved me ever since :-p. seriously I miss the spooning.

Rick and his wife Kristin (I know I spelled it wrong and I'm sorry) I built them a computer shortly after I moved to olympia, wa and we've been friends ever since. Two very cool and crazy people. Rick more so then kristin she just rocks the hotness and guitar playing, while rick handles the tiny penis and painting departments.

Lucy I bonded with through a very strange evening involving um.. non legal activities. She is a very loving girl, and will probably end up as my adoptive sister. I love my Lucy.



So yeah that was a large tangent and I'm not really sure what happened in it, but I'm hoping it was good for you.

Moving on!

I got married! First I must tell you of Matt the gay nazi. Matt is a sweetheart that "produced" our wedding I guess is the best way to put it. Without any pressure Matt is a really cool guy to be around and just alot of fun. Give him a deadline and on goes the boots and helmet is time for the goosestep. It totally caught me off gaurd the actualy lead up to the wedding, this man who had been all smiles and clamness turned into a sassy hitler. I'm not going to complain about this, the man got shit done it was just hillarious to watch and an amazing transformation. Plus after he got drunk at our wedding, he got even better. Though i heard that during the heil hitler phase he pissed a lot of people off, which is not so great. I'm sorry to all of you that were offended by the fuhrer.

Funny story, during the day of the wedding I was trying to find Matt for something, and I couldn't find him so I asked one of the waitstaff there and it kinda slipped out "Where is mein furher?" and without stepping a beat she calmly answered "oh I think he's downstairs talking to the girls and going over not fucking up their timing". By far one of the best pre-wedding moments of the day.

Oh and just so its on the record, my buddy Rick prepared an escape route and plan for me and even got directions to make a B-line to the airport incase I needed to run. It was very cute.

In my "green room" I provided a Wii and had lots of food and beer for my boys and lady as lucy was a groomsmaid. We had fun chilling up there talking and eating.

If I remember properly Eric was not a big fan of Gitler (Gay Hitler, ie. Matt)

I should also mention that to prove there was no hard feelings i danced with Matt during the party and had a blast.

Note to all people getting married, you will not eat or drink anything you see. Be sad in advance and carb load before the ceremony. I think for the 6 hours after the ceremony I had 2 beers and 2 chunks of meat on a cracker. The beers I stole from people walking around (I mean that literally, I took their beers chugged them and gave them back the empty glasses with a polite thank you) and the meat crackers were on a tray in the kitchen

I should mention that The Ceremony was the first time I've cried in probably 4 years. And boy did I cry. I was so damn happy to be getting married to Katie I just couldn't hold it in. She was beautiful and I was amazed everyone let her marry me. (not worthy) side note the "oh hell yes" was unscripted. I think the ceremony couldn't have been better, it was short sweet and got across everything that we needed to say to the world. I couldn't have been happier.

I hear the food was awesome. The only thing that happened during the whole event that I knew of was that after katie and I cut the cake we had our shares and then our wedding party and parents were supposed to get the cake. Well someoen in the kitchen fucked up and not a single person in our party or parents got to try the cake.

This made me sad. The cake tasted AWESOME. It was 95% organic (the mascerpone cream cheese in the frosting was not organic) and all fresh ingredients. That said the cake looked hideous. part of it fell off like a whole corner just dropped off. and yeah that whole thing was a disater, but the public didn't really know and it tasted GREAT. god I loved that cake.

If you're wondering the song Katie and I danced to is Be My Little Widow by Phillip Roebuck.

Toasts!

Katie's dad Park gave a great toast, during which a picture was taken of me looking down Katie's shirt. Oops. But seriously the toast was beautiful, it was great to hear him so warmly bless or marriage and welcome to his family. It felt good.

My brother gave a very short toast, but it was big for him he has a very hard time in front of audiences and I thank him for saying anything as my best man. I love you bro.

Brotah! Sean had an awesome toast (alot more of a public kinda guy) and I got paid on a bet! (first time ever for him :p)

DANCING! OMG did we dance, and sing, and party. Pictures will be up soon, but wow I really did love all that party stuff.

"i'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy..."

If you couldn't tell I'm dropping in references to events that you won't get unless you were there.

So that about sums up the wedding I think I hope sorry I'm writing ALOT on here and its hard to remember everything at once, its now 3:34am, but wait there's more!

OH I do need to thank Katie's "aunt" Kate for doing our ceremony, I think she did a great job and I was glad she was there. Thank you aunt Kate

Last bit on the wedding, Katie and I stay at this place called Portland's White House that was FREAKING COOL! We had a four post bed with lattice and netting and a clawfoot tub, art on the walls I mean this place was all out. it was really cool, plus the owner made us breakfast and that was awesome as well. we got applauded, by our breakfast guests that were also staying there, for getting married. It was awesome.

Ok I need to move on past the wedding, cause there is alot more its only July 21st!

Skip a bit brother manard...

3 days later Katie and I were on our way to Montana! one reason we were leaving so early after our wedding is that katie started her new job on the thursday after our wedding. I didn't start school till august 20th, but we had to be there by atleast by august 1st to move into our new place.

but anyways I drove straight through in one day with a uhaul towing our car. (not fun)
We had to stay somewhere for about a week and a half before our place would become available and we had our two cats with us. Also there was a big airshow going on that same weekend, so EVERYTHING was booked. We ended up having to stay 25 miles away in a town called Three Forks.
We stayed in a motel called The Broken Spur. Katie had to drive into town every day for work leaving me bored in this po dunk town. I spent alot of time on the internet submitting job applications. Katie and I both hated Three forks and the motel by the time we left and have since vowed never to willingly return.

One of the side effects of the moving was upset bowls. not what you eat out of the things that hold what you've eaten. We couldn't decide what was doing it, the food the altitude, the beds whatever. one night katie and I decided to go have dinner in Bozeman and on the way back I got an attack bad. The kind where it hurts so much to hold it in your eyes water and you uncontrollably squirm and twist. Only problem was I was driving. I was afriad of stopping and switching cause I might loose it. Something I didn't want to do. It all started happening about 15 miles from Three forks, and there was essentially nothing in between there and our motel, so I made the call to push through and make it.

Getting off the free way put you onto a road that has a speed limit of 65mph and within 1 mile that drops down to 25mph. needless to say i didn't quite make it down to 25mph when a local marshall pulled me over. At this point I was all but crying from the wonderful feeling my belly was giving me. When the officer FINALLY came up to my car window, he said something at me and half way through whatever he said I loudly interrupted I REALLY NEED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM. He sorta chuckled and said so was that why you were speeding? I couldn't respond so much so Katie filled in with, we're staying at the broken spur in room 8. Marshall "OK I'll follow you there." After going exactly 25mph for 347miles I made it to the motel and flew inside to allow nature to do its thing.

End of the story is I still got a ticket. 35 in 25.

Bonus Montana has a law that says any ticket 10 or less mph over the speed limit does NOT go on your record, in unincorperated areas. I was lucky. Only had to pay ticket insurance will never know. w00t.

So eventually we got out of Three Fucks. and moved into our new duplex. *sigh*

So when we moved in there was a few significant things wrong with the place. Katie had the responsibility of securing us a place and literally our ONLY option was this place and we had to rent it for 1 year sight unseen.

Good for them not so much for us. There were alot of problems, I fixed some, we made our landlord fix some others. It's frustrating to live here at times. We've made it alot better and we like it now, but there are problems still. I dunno wanna go into it cause it just sounds like bitching and it's boring.

Katie like her job, she works a photographic supply/service company on main street. She is learning alot and like some of the people she works with. It's really a good job for her, she is getting some very useful skills.

I started class on the 20th taking 2 classes. 1st class is called University Seminar or "cls" its a class on how to do university level seminar. Pretty easy stuff, read a book do a 1-2 page paper a week. 2nd class is Math 151 The Language of Mathematics. HARD. I don't have about half the prerequisits for this class and I see the teacher about 3 times a week for extra study sessions. I'm doing okish, i think i'll probably pull a c+ which is enough for me, I get a decent grade in this class no more math.

So that's school.

My jobs, when I moved here I took on a job at Staples for about a month. Didn't like it so I quit.

Then through a string of connections I got involved with this organization that puts on a local visual arts festival every year call HATCHfest. I was contracted by the festival to do some webwork on their site www.hatchfest.org. So I did that.

I also got kinda tied up with the festival and ended up working the whole thing as an unpaid volunteer. I worked from Tuesday October 2nd to 8th 20hrs a day for 5 of those. It was challenging and interesting work, but not very rewarding. I got the satisfaction of being able to handle it all and do a damn good job, but I didn't get to enjoy any of the festival. Once again I'm not going to bitch, thats just the way it happened. I ran a large portion of the festival and I did't have enough staff to cover everything so I worked 20 hour shifts to make sure everything got handled. For better or worse.

Well in this case worse for right after the end of the festival (literally the evening of the last day of cleanup) I came down with a sickness that is still not totally gone as of today 10 days later. It was a very nasty chest infection that tore me the fuck up. couldn't talk for a couple days. not fun. I still have some coughing.

It's been fun. I missed about a week of school because of this damn thing so now i'm behiend, and instead of doing homework i started this post. OH well I needed to do this.

So monday after HATCHfest I started a new job, I got there late and left early due to being sick and having to pickup katie from the airport. That reminds me I need to talk about how much Katie was angry at me about the whole HATCHfest thing and how I got my current job. I'll start with my job.

I applied to a few different places, one being the co-op, another a local computer repair shop, a local skii resort, and a job at MSU. All of them were doing computer work. The first position i interview for MSU I got a call a couple weeks ago saying that I got second place and that it was a real toss up, they really wanted me but the other guy happened to have more university experience. I trust this because it was the head of the IT department for the school. the second interview as with the ski resort. They offered me a good job but wanted me to wait at least 3 weeks before I could start. That was just too long to go without a pay check. the next was with the computer repair shop. they offered me a job during the interview. I had a previous commitment to interview with the co-op so I said I would do that before I said yes to their offer. They agree. I interview with the co-op and they said they would get back to me in a week and it would only be a part time job. With that information I accepted the computer repair job. Of all the jobs this was my last choice. don't get me wrong it's a good job well paying with benifits and all. Just boring.
I got a call last week from the co-op offering me a full time job 3 days after I started my job. *sigh*

So yeah. That's my job. oh and they're paperwork nazis. I understand why, its just annoying.

Ok now for Katie.

Leading up to HATCHfest it was consuming all of my free time. prep work website whatever I had no time. I was unemployed up until after the festival and even then all my time was nill. I had school and HATCH. and even during HATCH i didn't go to school. So all of this got Katie pretty grumpy. there was some other stuff too, but its alot of typing. needless to say she was very happy to see hatch go away. her friend lyra in olympia gave birth to a baby girl just before HATCH start and katie knew this was coming and had already book a plane ticket and gotten time off to go see her and the baby. So it was good that she was gone for the worst part of the festival. I was literally home for 4 hours a day and I was asleep during all of them. So that's that. It also didn't help that I was sick right after that. it made for a grumpy katie and a sorry/sick Jon. Were better now it was just a rough spot.

I think that's everything. Oh I haven't made any new friends here, katie is working on a couple of co-workers her age. I got nothin. All I have is the internet, phone and my wife to keep my company. which for now is more than enough. but hey if you want to visit let me know.

So that's it for now. I'm sorry if I forgot something important you know about. This is everything I could dump at once. I'm sure there are gaps, hell I don't even know how much of this makes sense. Like I said at the top I'm not going to check it right now. I just wanted to get it all on here. It's now 4:26am. hahahaha I'm going to go pretend to sleep and figure out what to tell my teacher tomorrow as to why he doesn't have a paper from me. Atleast this project is done enough for now.

Oh wait! I should mention my funny story from HATCHfest. While working one of the over night shifts I had an office with a bunch of stuff in it. I had gone for a walk and closed the door to said office, accidentally locking myself out. So I went and got security. He had a lock pick set and failed. He needs to work on his d20 rolls. So he decides to try a different tactic. This was a stupid door lock the kind you can usually get around with a credit card. He pops our a knife and starts to pick at the lock. Then he gives me a pick and tells me to hold a certain part of the lock back. As I'm doing this he fucks up and the knife cuts open my pinky. blood and laughter a plenty. eventually he went outside and climbed in through an open window. it was a crazy night. Ask me sometimes about the adventures of security at HATCHfest. anyways I sleep now.

-Jon


*wins award for longest post ever*

and tonight its going to snow.


Maybe Montana not greatest idea ever.

Thank you, all of you. I wish I could have been there to help.

Why do Americans celebrate Cinco De Mayo? Do Mexicans celebrate the 4th of July?

*sigh*

So last night I finished cleaning my rifles and reassembled them. They look like they are straight from 1945. I have no intent to refinish them or do anything to change their haggared and used condition. I think they look great. I'll post some pictures this weekend.

The next step will be for me to find a good gunsmith to check them both out and make sure that there are no problems with either of them.

Step three will be finding ammunition for either of them hopefully both.

Step four will be the holy grail of firing them for the first time in 60+ years.

Wish me luck.

I have taken to a new hobby. Unrelated to other events occuring on that day, last monday I acquired 2 rifles. The first is a Russian Mosin Nagant 91/30, the second a Yugoslovian m24/47 Mauser. Both weapons are surplus arms from WWII era conflicts. I have been spending the last couple of days "bringing them out of storage". When I got them they were both covered in a substance called cosmoline, a yellowish vasaline like goo used back then to preserve firearms. I have as of today cleaned the actions, bolts, and barrels of both weapons and plan to begin work on the stocks tonight. I don't know when I'll get to go shoot these as I'll need to take them to a gunsmith first to make sure they are safe.

Also the ammunition for both of them is rare, annoyingly rare. The mosin is chambered in 7.62x54r and the mauser is 8mm mauser. Most ammo for these weapons is surplus from the same era.

This is all new to me and I find it intriguing. I will post some pictures once I get them all cleaned up.

Another 33 reasons why handguns should not be legal. Generally speaking there is no legitimate use for a handgun other than killing people. Sure you can make up extreme an circumstance like "I carry a .500 magnum revolver with me when I go camping as a bear defense weapon". OK fine. Over 86% of all firearm related crimes in America are handgun related. I'm not saying banning handguns will stop these crimes and deaths but it will reduce them. Handguns reload, fire, and aim faster than any traditional semi-automatic rifle sold in America. This allows a shooter to acquire more targets and get more shots off faster increasing the probability of higher body counts during events like this. This is widely accepted knowledge, if you bitch about sources I'll get them. We can't stop gun deaths in America, but we can make them less frequent and less severe.

There are lots of reasons people have come up with to justify the ownership of handguns. Everything from "they're really fun to shoot" to "I NEED it to defend my home". Some of these concerns are legitimate others, not so much. In order for there to be a reduction in deaths by guns, we need to make it harder to happen.

"Criminals" aren't the people who are responsible for these massive shootings, its everyday people and students. Every "massacre" event in recent American history from the Texas A&M sniper to yesterdays events were carried out with legally acquired weapons. These are people who get access to a cheap machine and use it to kill as many people as they can as quickly as possible. The rough total spent on the weapons that the "alleged" suspect used was around $1300. That's how much it cost this kid to kill 32 people and wound 20 more. How many people would have died yesterday had this guy only had access to a 5 or 10 round semi-automatic rifle?

To wash away any bias I LOVE shooting all types of guns, they're just fucking fun, but I also understand some sacrifices need to be made to better protect the people of our country. If that means I can't go shoot handguns, so be it.

These are my own thoughts and opinions on the matter, if you believe I am grossly in error feel free to correct me in a professional manner. I will delete all baseless and derogatory comments at my discretion. I'm not being an asshole in this post and neither should you.

My cat Dan eats dryer lint like its a delicacy. I don't even know what to think about that, let alone do.

So without further ado I herby announce the first grand change in my wedding plans. Instead of getting married on Decmeber 1st in Bozeman, MT I will hence for be getting married on July, 21st somewhere in this region.

Also on a COMPLETELY unrelated note, I have been considering the acquisition of a new/used firearm of the carbine variety i.e. small compact semi-auto rifle. Any recommendations on cost effective and solid weapons would be greatly appreciated.

Exit.

I just recently finished Orbiter, and I wanted to take the question posed by this book one step further.

So we need to continue to explore space, to expand our understanding and to really reach out to the stars as it were. This is well posed and convincingly demonstrated in Orbiter. I along with many other people believe whole heartedly that we should follow these goals and push our expansion into space with the same force and vigor the Britons did in Ministry.

So we are in agreement, but how? Do we put our faith in NASA? Or how bout one of the new startups like Virgin Galactic? Do we need to start fresh? What's the answer?

The world still wants us to move forward in space. How do we do it?

I'm not a physicist or a propulsion expert; I'm just another guy that wants to see our race push itself further. Frankly I don't give a damn how or where it happens as long as its intent is to push the human race forward, not a political or military mantra. If it’s Indians launching from Sri Lanka fine whatever I DON'T CARE! It’s not a national pride thing anymore we as a people need inspiration to move forward, a cause, a dream, a purpose. Every time a great problem faces us we persevere. That is what makes us who we are.

So I pose this to everyone, how do we build that base on the moon, and start that colony on mars we've been reading about since we were kids?

I want to do everything I can to make it happen, but I no longer see any agency that is capable of making our dream real.

What is the answer?

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/11403664/detail.html?rss=bal&psp=news

I want.

OK. WTF.

Battlestar Galactica has once again far surpassed my grasp of what can happen in a poorly written TV show. There is so much wrong with all of this that I cannot even pull enough of my head together to write anything meaningful about it.

They have stooped to ratings jacking shock maneuvers and thats it. There are plot holes and universe problems with almost everything in the season finale. I have so much frustration only because it was my weekly bit of story telling that wisked me away to somewhere else that was interesting. Now I don't have that. I still watch only because I want it to get better and hope that I'll get to see that happen.

Season 4 starts in 2008 and there will be a 2 hour special sometime this fall. That's all I know at the moment.

As for what happened in the episode I can't say much because I know I have atleast one reader that hasn't seen anything this season, but I will say again... WTF.

So Say We All.